Baptism, the Holy Spirit and Liberation

Last week I trust that you will have celebrated in fine form the 12^th and final day of Christmas.  It is called the feast of the Epiphany and marks the episode in Matthew’s birth narrative in which some foreigners – those wise men from the East – paid their homage to the infant Jesus in recognition of his special status for the whole world.

So we call the season from now until Shrove Tuesday the Season of or after Epiphany and while this word has slipped out of our vocabulary by and large the BIG IDEA for this season is REVELATION or DISCLOSURE. 

So, during this season we are called to be on the lookout for those things that reveal to us who Jesus was and is and what he’s about.

The week before last I was addressing the short episode in Luke’s birth narrative in which Mary & Joseph observed the customary practices of their day by taking Jesus to the Temple on the eighth day of his life to name him properly and have him scarred for life as one of God’s people – he was circumcised. 

When we look at these early stories of Jesus life it is important for us to consider what Matthew or Luke wanted us to notice from them, and in some ways this is tricky. 

You are probably aware that Mary wasn’t keeping a diary of all the things that happened when Jesus was born and as he grew up – even though Luke says she pondered on these things deeply in her heart.

There are two important elements to remember about the way these stories were created.  Firstly, they were all created after they knew the end of the story; and secondly, they lived in oral form for a long while before they were written down.

This meant that by the time Matthew or Luke got to writing the stories down they felt at perfect liberty to build all sorts of code language and symbols into the narrative so that it passed on what they wanted us to know about Jesus.

So, as we listened to this story of the baptism of Jesus, today, I wonder what it is that Luke really wants us to pay attention to, to notice in particular because it will show us, reveal to us, something very important about who Jesus was and is and what he’s about?

Eira and I use a particular version of The Daily Office for our prayers in the morning and as an invitation to sing a short song they sometimes have these words from Psalm 95:

     “Come let us bow down and bend the knee,

             Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.”

We stop there, but the next verse in the Psalm is a good one to ponder:

             “for he is our God.

We are the people he watches over,

the flock under his care.

If only you would listen to his voice today!”

That is what I trust we are doing every day, but also in a special kind of way when we gather here together on Sundays.

SO, what is it that Luke wants us to take notice of in his story of the baptism of Jesus.

Luke could have told the story differently.  Matthew, Mark and John all thought it was important that John, Jesus’ cousin, was the one who baptised him, but that is not important for Luke.  Jesus was simply baptised along with everyone else.

This, I think is picking up on something very similar to what I suggested about Luke’s story of Jesus’ naming and circumcision – it is a way of emphasising the essential humanity of Jesus – he was like us in every way. 

This is a common aspect to many of Luke’s versions of the stories of Jesus, and yet he is not afraid to embed some amazing code language in this story that emphasises is divine status and origins.

In the Orthodox traditions of the church, the story of the Baptism of Jesus has become far more significant than it perhaps is in the West.  Most of us are happy to see this as an example of Jesus fulfilling all the requirements of the law (even though, as I used to hear said when I was a young Christian, he never sinned so he did not need to be baptised for the forgiveness of sins, like we do).

The orthodox regard this as a “Theophany” story – etymology similar to “Epiphany” – one that Reveals God to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit all in one story.  The Son is in the water, the Spirit descends upon him in bodily form as a dove and the Voice of The Lord is heard from the heavens saying:  “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

So, for the Orthodox, this story has embedded in it all the symbols of a most glorious Theophany of God Almighty, Father, Son and Holy Spirit – the first Christian hint at this idea of the Trinity that is so important to us as Christians today.

Another key symbol that Luke embeds in this and the following stories of the beginnings of Jesus’ ministry is the Holy Spirit.  Luke is the story-teller of the Signs and Wonders Holy Spirit. 

In all of the stories by Luke of the work of the Holy Spirit the evidence of the Spirit is found in signs and wonders – powerful events that point us to the Glory of God.  The story we read from Acts (written by Luke) has echoes of this and the Psalm we read today is calling all of creation to speak in praise of God’s glory.

I am not sure about you, but I have to confess that I am not a great one for the Signs and Wonders stuff of the Holy Spirit – they have never been part of my experience, and I am very glad the John’s Gospel gives me a completely different way of understanding the work of the Holy Spirit; but this confession leaves me with a dilemma:  “What sense do I make of this story if the Holy Spirit – in power and glory – is the central idea?”

I don’t think it is possible for us to read this story of Jesus’ Baptism without giving some thought to our own baptism, and as you may recall, there are some very special words and gestures within the Baptism/Confirmation liturgy concerning the Holy Spirit.  When the water for Baptism is blessed the Holy Spirit is invoked to sanctify the water and those baptised, the priest later signs the person with the sign of the cross to show that you are marked as Christ’s forever, using CHRISM OIL – made holy at Easter as a symbol of the anointing of the Holy Spirit, and at Confirmation the Bishop prays with the laying on of hands “Strengthen, Lord, your servant with your Holy Spirit.  Empower and sustain them for your service.”

So, whether or not I am into a Signs and Wonders view of the Holy Spirit, something about the Spirit is central to this story.

This is where the Lectionary helps me, and I hope this will give you something to take away from our reading of the Scriptures today.

The Prophet Isaiah wrote an amazing piece of poetry for us which we read this morning.  The second verse has some clear allusions to baptism, as well as expressing something of the glory of God.

          When you pass through the waters,

     I will be with you;

          and through the rivers,

       they shall not overwhelm you;

          when you walk through fire

     you shall not be burned,

          and the flame shall not consume you.

John the Baptist, like most of the prophets was good at reading the political and social context of his day, and he describes the work of Jesus as like one who was “clearing his threshing floor to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”  I think that Luke has John here hinting at the probability of a fiery end to the Roman occupation of Jerusalem – but with an assurance that the faithful would not be overwhelmed but would be saved, redeemed, liberated.

So Luke is saying to us that this Jesus is the one who will really get you through the mess of the world we live in.

I suspect if I was to ask you “What does Jesus save us from?” most of you would say “Our sins!  He forgives us!” and in many ways this is an important message of the Gospel of Jesus.

But I think Luke is opening a door here for us to add something quite different to our understanding of who Jesus was and is and what he’s about.

I think he is wanting us to consider that one of the big things he is about is our liberation:- freeing us to live fully and authentically human lives that glorify God.

We all easily acknowledge the struggle we have being the good people we know God wants us to be, and our inability to do this is not so much about sin as it is about an inner urge to look after ourselves before we look after others – and that messes things up all too often.

What Jesus comes along and offers is the transforming power of grace that assures us of God’s love for us thus freeing us from the tyranny of trying and failing to meet his expectations.  This freedom then transforms us so that we are able to live more authentically and for the good of others.

Perhaps such a transformation is a little less dramatic than the Holy Spirit signs and wonders that Luke likes to tell us about, but it is no less miraculous.

May you know this Holy Spirit power of transformation and liberation every day.